Life Goes On
by Luxana Etain
Summary: Jennifer's life basically. Not based on any real happenings. PG-13 because of drug use.
1. Prologue/Ch.1

Prologue  
Seven Years Before  
  
Jennifer Hawkins and Denise Carr were best friends. Although they were eight years old at the time, and barely knew anything about life at all, they dealt with their 'separation' well enough.   
  
It had happened on a Saturday. The day after first grade let out, in fact. They were at Jennifer's house, drawing with Jennifer's ten-year-old brother, Lars.   
  
"What is that supposed to be?" Denise asked, pointing at Jennifer's drawing.  
  
"It's supposed to be a horse. What's wrong with it?"  
  
"Well… to be honest, the neck is too long. Maybe it should be a giraffe," Lars commented, staring at the picture.   
  
Jennifer stuck her tongue out at her brother and Denise then added, "You guys are meanie heads." She got up from where she was sitting at the coffee table and ran upstairs to her bedroom.   
  
Just then, Denise's mother came into the living room and sat down on the beige leather couch behind Denise.   
  
"C'mon honey, it's time to go. Say goodbye to Lars and Jen- Where's Jennifer?"  
  
"She ran upstairs after we made fun of her drawing."  
  
"Honey, that wasn't nice…. Go say you're sorry."  
  
"All right, if I have to," Denise said, and pushed herself up from the ground. She began   
walking up the crimson-carpeted staircase to Jennifer's bedroom.   
  
She pushed open the door and saw that Jennifer was crying on her bed.   
  
"I'm sorry Deni, I didn't mean what I said."  
  
"I guess it's all right, Jean," Denise said, through sniffles. She pushed herself up from the position she had been in previously. She looked at Jennifer with red-rimmed eyes and then walked over to her and gave her a hug.  
  
"Denise, dear, let's go, we have a long trip ahead of us," Jennifer's mom said, suddenly appearing at the door.  
  
Jennifer and Denise let go of their embrace and looked at Ms. Carr. Jennifer looked from Jennifer to her mother.  
  
"Where are you going, Deni?" Jennifer asked.   
  
Denise looked down and then back up at Jennifer, her eyes watering. Wiping away the tear, she said, "We're moving. My mommies fiancé got a job offer in Toronto… that's in Canada… and we're moving there so that Mommy and Frank can get married."   
  
"Moving? But you can't! You just can't!" Jennifer said, throwing herself on her bed, going into a mad fit. "I won't let you!"   
  
As Jennifer began to cry, Ms. Carr led Denise out of the room and down the staircase to the car that was waiting for them.   
  
Denise paused and looked at the car from a safe distance. The green minivan had a moving truck attached to the rear of the car. Frank was waiting in the drivers seat.   
  
"Denise, let's go. I think I've said that about a thousand times now," Ms. Carr said and pulled Denise into the car.  
  
Denise looked out the car window and up at Jennifer's bedroom window, where Jennifer was looking down on the minivan.   
  
Tears streaming down her face, Denise placed her right hand against the window. As Jennifer did the same, Frank started the car and drove off down the street, heading north, to Toronto.   
  
  
Chapter One  
  
Jennifer  
"Run Lars! Run!" I cried out in the parking lot of Crescent Hills High School. I knew that somehow Lars was getting into trouble again, with his unpopularity and smart mouth. Plus, I had seen some of the junior jocks beating up on some poor, defenseless boy. So I knew it must have been my brother.   
  
I ran up to the "fight" that was taking place, and pushed some large guy off my brother. Punching another in the face, the one that I had thrown to the ground looked at me strangely.   
  
"Leave him alone. Ok?" I said, harshly. They backed off and ran in opposite directions. I sighed and helped Lars off the ground.   
  
"You need to learn to fight your own battles. One day, you're going to go to college, and I won't be there to help you."  
  
"Unless I go to community college. Then I can just point them out to you in public and you can beat their asses for me."   
  
I shook my head and got into the car. We drove to the front of the school to pick up my friends Penelope and Poppin Perkins. They were twins… just incase you didn't know. Well, Poppin wasn't his real name, it was Samuel, but he has ADHD and he was too energetic, so someone in fifth grade dubbed him with the nickname 'Poppin,' and the name stuck.   
  
Penelope and I had been friends since fourth grade when her and her brother transferred into our school system. I was referred to the office to show Penelope around the school, since we both had the same teacher, Mrs. Thomson.   
  
As Penelope and Poppin sat down in the back seat of the car and buckled their seat belts, Lars drove off.   
  
Lars had started going by the name 'Gordon,' but no one obviously liked it, so they kept calling him Lars. For some reason, my parents decided to go along with it and they were the only ones in the town of Crescent Hills to call him Gordon. Gordon wasn't even anywhere related to his name, or his middle name, which was Walter.   
  
It was the second day of school, and Lars was already getting beat up. Well, technically it was expected, because well, he was always getting the crap beaten out of him. Two years ago, I was forced to take some martial arts classes so that I could properly defend my brother.  
  
Penelope's family was probably one of the richest families in Crescent Hills. They could afford going to exotic places, and leaving their children behind. I don't think that they even knew about Poppin having ADHD. They have an older sister, Chenille, whom their parents don't like to talk about much. She was recently released from the mental hospital, and was staying at their house. She had what the doctors called "a haunting drug related past." Chenille was twenty-seven, and she had had two children, but both had miscarried.   
  
Penelope  
Jennifer had decided to come to my house after realizing that she had left her sketchpad in my bedroom. We walked up the paved driveway. Noticing that my parents were home gave me a feeling of astonishment. Jennifer, Poppin and I walked through the double, wooden doors and straight into the kitchen, where Elsa, our maid, was making our "after school snack."   
  
"'Ello there, children. 'Ello there Jennifer," Elsa said in her Swedish accent.   
  
We said our hellos, grabbed a cookie or two, and walked up the back stairs.   
  
Poppin went to his bedroom and Jennifer and I walked into mine.  
  
"Penny? Penny? Are you home from school dear?" My mother's voice came in through the intercom by my bedroom door.   
  
I pressed the green button. "Yes mom, I'm home. Jennifer's over, ok?"  
  
"Who? Oh, yes. Jennifer. All right dear. Be good. You're father and I are going out for a while. Tell Chenille, she's not answering her intercom."  
  
"Alright mom. I'll tell Chenille," I said, realizing that my mother didn't remember Jennifer after five years of friendship. As you can see, my mother and I don't have a very good relationship. Considering that she's never really there.  
  
"I have to go tell Chenille something real quick, Jenny. Wait here, alright?" I asked, standing in my doorway. She nodded and I headed down the hall to Chenille's bedroom.   
  
I tried to open the door, but it was locked. The doorknobs were unable to be picked so I had to go into the guest bedroom next to Chenille's where the bathroom's connected. I picked the lock on that door, because I knew that Chenille always kept that door locked.   
  
Her bedroom was dark. The bed was unmade and the TV was on mute, plus it was on a fuzzy channel. I looked around, Chenille wasn't here. I turned to leave the room when I heard a noise coming from the other side of the bed. I walked around the foot of the bed and saw that Chenille was lying on the ground, passed out. She was wearing a skimpy like tank top and her underwear. I looked around at the setting of her bedroom. On the glass table next to her bed was a syringe. Little liquid droplets had fallen from the end of the needle.   
  
I ran to the intercom and paged Jennifer to call an ambulance. Running back to Chenille, I picked up her head and started shaking her.   
  
"Chenille," I said, "wake up. Chenille, wake up!" Tears started running down my face. I kept shaking her, telling her to wake up until the paramedics got to the house, where I let them take over.   
  
  
We arrived at the hospital at around 5 o'clock. My parents were unaware of Chenille's overdose, but I thought that the less they knew, the better. I didn't want Chenille going back to that hospital again.   
  
After Chenille had her stomach pumped, we were able to see her. It was around 9:36 then. I went in first, Jennifer and Poppin waiting in the waiting room (Ironic right?).   
  
I stepped through the baby blue door and into the dimly lit hospital bedroom. Chenille's bed was in an upright position. She looked much better than she did when I found her in her   
bedroom at the house.   
  
"Are you alright?" I asked, sitting in one of the uncomfortable chairs next to her bed.  
  
"I guess so. I don't know what alright is anymore," she joked, laughing slightly. Seeing a smile on Chenille's face was foreign to me, but it was comforting nonetheless.   
  
  
Jennifer  
When Penelope went into Chenille's hospital bedroom, I waited in the waiting room with Poppin. I didn't know what had happened, but I'm sure that I didn't want to know.   
Poppin didn't look like he was in the mood to talk about anything that had to do with his family life, so I asked him about his first day in high school.  
  
"So, Poppin, do you like school so far?" I asked.  
  
"Um, I guess. It's not really what I hoped for, but no one gets what they want," He said, keeping his face down, looking at the tiled floor.   
  
  
Lars picked me up from the hospital and brought me home. I didn't want my parents to know about Chenille's incident. So, we just pretended that he had picked me up from Penelope's house.   
  
Now it's early October, and Penelope and I are sitting at lunch, talking about upcoming midterms.   
  
"God, I so don't want to do this," she said, looking through her Geometry book. "Geometry isn't great. You know me, I usually like math, but Geometry just plain sucks."   
  
I laughed, and looked down at my own Geometry book.   
  
"Well, just to change the subject onto a lighter perspective, I met a guy," Penelope beamed.  
  
"Really? What's his name?"  
  
"His name is Milo DeFranko, he's a junior. Maybe you're brother would know him. I'm sure he's beaten up a couple of times."  
  
Laughing again, I looked up at her. This was good news. Penelope rarely let any guys into her life, unless she was sure about them.   
  
"I'll ask him about Milo later. Right now, I'm hungry. Have any food you don't want?"   
  
"Yeah, here's a ham sandwich that Chenille made me this morning. Obviously she doesn't know much about me." Penelope was a vegetarian. "There he is now!" Penelope said, smiling brightly, pointing across the campus.   
  
I turned around, looking to the guy she was pointing at. An obviously tall, brown haired guy. He was too far away for me to see his eye color, but Penelope said that he had green colored contacts. He was dressed in preppy type clothing and was standing over with more preppy looking people. I raised an eyebrow.  
  
"That's not really the kind of person you usually go for, Penny," I said, placing my hand on hers.   
  
"What? You aren't happy for me?"  
  
"I was joking. He looks fine."   
  
I took a bite of the sandwich. "What now? It's Friday. What are we gonna do tonight? Clubbing? Searching for hot guys?" I joked.   
  
"Not tonight. Milo is coming over so that he can help me study for the Geometry midterm. He's taken it already and such."  
  
"Alright. I guess it's another night of renting chick flicks and making Lars watch them with me. Or something."   
  
Penelope scratched the side of her face. She looked stargazed across the campus at Milo. I sighed, and then took another bite of the sandwich. Maybe, finally, Penelope will be happy.   
The bell rang, and I quickly finished the sandwich. It was time for history.   
  
  
I walked into history class and sat in my usual seat in the back of the room. Jonathan Harper sat down next to me. He was a sophomore, but I could tell that he had some sort of crush on me. It was kinda sweet.   
  
"So, Jennifer, what are you doing this weekend?" he asked.  
  
"Not much. Penelope has a new boyfriend so I get to just lounge around every weekend until they break up," I said sarcastically.  
  
"Sounds like fun," he said, looking me once over.   
  
When he wasn't looking, I rolled my eyes in a corny kind of way.   
  
  
Penelope  
It was 7 o'clock and Milo was supposed to be at my house by now. Poppin was out of the house, and Chenille had locked herself up in her room, as usual.   
  
Fifteen minutes later, I heard a car pull up in the driveway and as soon as the doorbell rang, I rushed to open the door. It was Milo. I smiled and showed him into the living room.   
  
We sat down on the couch, but when I asked if he was thirsty or hungry or whatever, he said that he was thirsty so we got up, again, and went into the kitchen.   
  
It was Elsa's night off, so she wasn't in the house. She was probably already asleep. She was old and such, so maybe she was there.   
  
"Hmm," Milo said, taking a look at the kitchen. "You have a nice house. Really."  
  
"Thanks," I said, blushing somewhat. I got him some soda and then we went back into the living room.   
  
I was reading the Geometry book when he put his arm around the shoulder of the couch. I tensed a little bit, then relaxed, thinking he was just getting comfortable  
.   
Hopefully he didn't notice that, I thought to myself, looking out of the corner of my eye, looking to see if he had noticed. I don't think he did.   
  
"So, what does this mean?" I asked, pointing to some random thing on the page.  
  
"Um," he said, looking down at the book, "that means 'the area around the circle.'"   
  
"Oh," I said, looking at what I had pointed to. Circumference.   
  
Great, I thought, point to something you already know. I rolled my eyes at my stupidity.  
  
"Hey, lets stop studying. I think we've done enough of that for tonight. What's on TV?" Milo asked.  
  
"I don't know. Let's see." I picked up the remote and turned on the TV. We channel surfed for a little while before we found a movie that seemed good enough.   
  
"Hey," he said, placing a hand on my shoulder, "I'm gonna go see if you have anything to eat. Alright? Want anything?"  
  
I shook my head, tensing a little bit. When Milo left the living room, I let out a sigh of sorts and watched the TV a little more.   
  
He came back about fifteen minutes later.  
  
"Took you a while to find something to eat."   
  
"Ah, I ate in the kitchen. I didn't think you wanted any crumbs on your carpet. I'm a messy eater." He smiled.   
  
I laughed and we watched the movie for a while longer until I fell asleep. I don't know what happened after that. All I know is that I woke up in my bed the next morning. There was a note next to my bed that read:  
  
Hey Pen,   
You fell asleep and I put you in your bed. Just to let you know. So, don't get mad at me. Also, you look cute when you sleep.  
Milo XOXO  
  
  
Jennifer  
It was Saturday morning, and Lars and I were eating breakfast. My mother had made the All-American breakfast: pancakes, bacon and eggs. Of course, there was milk and the small glass of orange juice. Then I remembered that I was supposed to ask Lars about Milo.  
  
"Lars, do you know anyone in your class named Milo DeFranko?" I asked.  
  
"Uh, yeah… why?"  
  
"Um… just wondering."  
  
"How do you know him? He's no good."  
  
"What? What's wrong with him?"  
  
"Yeah… he's got issues. How do you know him?"  
  
"Uh, Penelope's dating him."  
  
"You better talk to her soon. He's no good for her… No good for anyone."  
  
I stared at him for a second. "Alright," I said and took a bite of a pancake.   
  
I found Milo's phone number in the phone book and told him to meet me at the diner on 6th Avenue. I was sitting at a booth by the window when Milo walked into the diner. I waved him over and he sat across from me.  
  
"Who are you and what the hell do you want?" he asked.  
  
"All I have to say is that I'm a friend of Penelope's."  
  
"Yeah, I think I know you. You're Gordon's sister. Good job taking care of him."  
  
I glared at him for a second then said, "You better not treat Penelope like you did the other girls. I know how you are. I know you. I know what you're like. Don't try anything, or else. You'll pay."  
  
"I'll pay huh? How? How will I pay? I'm not afraid of you... little girl."  
  
I smiled. "You should be." I got up and walked out of the diner. Then, I bumped into Jonathan, from history class.   
  
"Hey, Jennifer. Where are you off to in such a rush?"  
  
"Uh, away from some creep. Milo DeFranko."  
  
"Oh, him… yeah, he's such a creep. I don't like him much. He's not nice."   
  
"No, he isn't." I looked back at the diner. "Yeah, I need to get going."  
  
I started off, but then Jonathan stopped me. "Hey, do you want to do something later?"   
  
"Like what?"  
  
"Uh, we can meet … here and have dinner? Or uh… lunch?"  
  
I laughed. "Sure. Why not? I'll meet you here at two o'clock, all right? We'll have lunch. I told Penelope I'd make dinner for her tonight." I smiled at Jonathan. "See you then."  
  
I could tell that when I walked off that he was celebrating his score. I laughed to myself and walked towards Penelope's house.   
  
  
When I arrived at Penelope's house, Elsa let me in. She said that Penelope had just woken up and she was taking a shower. So, I just waited in her room for her.   
  
After her shower, she came out with her hair wrapped up in a blue towel and a robe on. She looked at me weirdly.  
  
"Hey, Jen. What's up? You look stressed. Why?"  
  
"I talked to Lars about Milo today. He said he wasn't any good. So, I talked to Milo. He basically admitted to all of his fornications with almost all of the female student body at Crescent High. He won't listen to me though. You should just leave him. It would be the best thing to do… in my opinion."  
  
I could tell that Penelope wasn't happy with me. "Your opinion? Your opinion? I don't think I need your opinion. You don't need to handle my accounts for me, Jennifer. I don't need you to get in my personal life. I don't need you to work out my life for me. Work with your life and I'll work with mine. I don't need this shit, not from you."  
  
I got up and walked out of her bedroom. I walked out of her house and back to my own.  
  
I looked at the clock. It was 1:20. I decided to take a shower and then go to meet Jonathan at the diner.   
  
I ran the shower and picked out something to wear. I took a quick shower. Then I dried off and got dressed. I walked downstairs and got some water. Then, I took a house key with me and walked down to 6th Avenue to meet Jonathan.   
  
  
I sat at another booth when I got to the diner almost six minutes early. I looked around, waiting for Jonathan to come in the door.   
  
When he came in through the door, I saw Jonathan like I hadn't seen him before. He looked… nice. He looked like he usually did, but now… he looked… normal… to me I guess. He looked breathtaking. I smiled when he walked in. I waved him over, but this time it was happily.   
  
"Hey, Jennifer. How are you? You look… um, nice."  
  
"Thanks, Jonathan. I'm fine. You too."  
  
I tapped my fingers on the tabletop.   
  
"What's wrong?" he asked.  
  
"Ah… um… well, I think that Penelope and I aren't speaking anymore," I said, a tear running down my cheek.   
  
"Really? I'm sorry. I know how close you two must have been. You talked about her a lot in history."  
  
I smiled. Even through the tears, I managed a smile.   
  
  
Penelope  
I don't know who she thought she was, but she didn't have any right to go talk to Milo without talking to me about what she talked to Lars about first.   
  
After she left I got dressed and ran outside to see if she was still there. She was gone. I didn't know where she went, but in my heart I knew I didn't want her to go, but my mind was telling me that I didn't want to speak to her until she admitted she was sorry. She needed to admit to me that she should not have talked to Milo without talking to me first. It's just not fair. It's just not like her.  
  
I walked back up to my room and sat on my bed. I took out my journal and began to write about what had just happened. I don't know why she had done that. I felt a little dizzy so I went downstairs to get something to eat. Elsa was fixing lunch.   
  
"Ms. Penelope, you don't looks so good. Have you eaten anything today?"   
  
I shook my head.  
  
"Have you taken your medicine?"  
  
I shook my head.   
  
"Do you need to see the doctor?"  
  
I shook my head again.   
  
"Eat something dear," she said, handing me an apple, but before I could take a bite, I passed out.  
  
The next thing I could remember was that I woke up in a hospital bedroom with an IV attached to my left arm. I felt a little woozy, but looked around anyway. No one was in the room with me. I pressed the button for a nurse to come to my room.   
  
A few seconds later, a nurse walked in.   
  
"Where's my mother?"  
  
"She left the country this morning. Elsa brought you here. Chenille is in the waiting room. She's going to take you home later. When you feel better and the medicine wears off."  
  
"Medicine?"  
  
"The morphine. You had to go into surgery. You really need to take you insulin, Penelope. You can't do this again, or something serious will happen. Your diabetes isn't just going to cure itself you know."  
  
I nodded.   
  
"Alright."  
  
"Get some rest. You must be tired."  
  
I nodded again and closed my eyes as the nurse walked out of the room. I fell asleep almost suddenly.  
  
  
Jennifer  
Somehow that lunch with Jonathan made me feel somewhat better about my situation with Penelope. Maybe if we stopped talking altogether, I'll be able to move on and be friends with Jonathan, but I didn't want that. I'm not much for change.   
  
It was almost 5 o'clock and I was sitting in my living room, on the couch, watching TV. There wasn't much on, but I just decided to surf the channels.   
  
I sighed. Then walked outside, into my back yard and laid down in the hammock. I looked at the horizon and watched as the sky changed colors.   
  
As the sky began to turn a bluish black color, and the stars began to show, I began to think about the past. You know, the whole meeting Penelope, and then thoughts of when I fell off the jungle gym in 5th grade. It knocked the wind out of me and I couldn't breathe for like 5 minutes. Penelope tried to give me water, which was kind of a dumb idea at the time.   
  
I reminisced for a few minutes before Lars dragged me inside for dinner. Mother had made her famous Chicken Loaf. Frightening thought, yes. I think so. Who knows what's next. Some mystery surprise meat thing like they serve at school sometimes? Doesn't it just seem to be that at almost every school they serve some mystery meat or hamburger surprise? I mean, even on the movies they serve crap like that.   
  
After dinner, Lars and I drove down to the local Blockbuster and looked around. Penelope and I would usually rent some movie we'd never seen before, or some movie from like the 1940's or something. Musicals were Penelope's favorite. I, personally, liked the black and white murder mysteries with the Sherlock Holmes type detective guys, and the fainting girl with the red dress on.   
  
I rented some Independent Film and, as usual, Lars got an action thriller. I can seriously say… it's been an interesting day.  
  
  
The next morning, I was forced to go to church, once again, and then to come home and have our "every Sunday" lunch with the grandparents. I hate doing this, more than anything in the world. Well, dentists are rather scary. Technically, doctors in general are frightening, if you think about it.   
  
Then a thought struck me: School. What was I going to do about going to school and having to face Penelope hanging all over Milo? Groaning silently to myself at the table, I pushed the thought aside until later. My grandparents had brought up the subject of my grades.   
  
After lunch, I undressed from my "Sunday church clothes," as my mother would call them, and put on some casual attire and called Jonathan.   
  
"Hello?" some girl on the other line asked.   
  
"Uh, is Jonathan home?" I asked.  
  
"Yeah, sure. Hold on."  
  
The girl put the phone down. I heard her scream for Jonathan and then a few moments later, he picked up.  
  
"Hello?" he asked. He sounded stressed.  
  
"Uh, hey Jonathan. It's Jennifer."  
  
"Oh hey Jen. You don't mind if I call you Jen, do you?"  
  
I laughed slightly, almost a giggle. "Nah. I don't care."  
  
"So… why'd you call?"  
  
"Um, I wanted to know if you wanted to do something today. I'm practically free for the rest of my life if Penelope decides to seriously stop speaking to me."  
  
I could tell he was smiling. "Yeah, sure. What did you have in mind?"  
  
"I was actually hoping you could pick."   
  
"Yeah. Uh, meet me at the park in like fifteen minutes. Alright?"  
  
"Alright."  
  
We hung up and I went to brush my hair.  
  
  
Fifteen minutes later, I was at the park, waiting for Jonathan. Then, fifteen minutes after that, I was still waiting. So… I waited. And waited. And waited some more. Until it became obvious that he wasn't going to show up. I sighed, picked up my purse and went home. I hadn't watched the movie I rented last night, so I popped it in the VCR, kicked Lars out the living room and watched the movie.  
  
  
Jonathan  
Crash!  
  
Bang!  
  
My sister, Isadora, had thrown a vase at me. It was a cheap vase that we had gotten at one of the local dollar stores, but still, it was a glass vase.   
  
I glanced up at the clock in the kitchen. It was one o'clock. I sighed as I looked around for Isadora.  
  
I lived in a trailer park, just minutes outside of Crescent Hills, with my sister, and my foster parents. Obviously, Isadora wasn't really my sister. Nor did I look anything like my parents. My mother was short and rather round, with curly blonde hair. My father was short, as well, with orangeish-red hair. Isadora, on the other hand, had long wavy orange hair. She wasn't my foster mother's child. Isadora was born from a previous marriage from my father.   
  
We didn't always live in a trailer park, nor did I always have my foster mother. She had only been around for three years. My father (who had adopted me when I was born, after my mother died in labor. My father was supposed to be my godfather.), Isadora and I had lived in a great house in Beverly Hills. My foster mother (at the time) was a rising movie star. She would go out at night and spend loads of money on "clothes," but somehow my father knew better. I was only 9 at the time, so I didn't understand fully. My father, Clark, found my mother doing drugs, and so he left her, and brought Isadora and I to Crescent Hills, where he had grown up.   
  
A few years later, I was then 12, we got a call from my first mother's lawyer saying that she had died and she had left nothing for our family. She had died from a drug overdose.   
  
Then my father met Katherine and he fell in love, and we all lived happily ever after and so on and so forth, right? Not really. Clark and Kathy, as she likes to be called, fight constantly. I spend a lot of my time out of this house and at my friend, Nicholas's, house. His family is, at least, somewhat normal.   
  
I was startled when the phone rang. It rang twice before I heard Isadora pick up the phone.   
  
"Jonathan!" she yelled from the living room (which wasn't really a room in it's own), and threw the remote for our black and white TV at me, along with the phone.   
  
I picked the phone up off the floor and said "hello" into the receiver.   
  
"Uh, hey Jonathan. It's Jennifer."  
  
Finally a friendly voice, I was relieved. She and I talked about going out to the park. We were going to meet in fifteen minutes.   
  
I was heading out the door when Kathy pulled in the driveway, not in her usual bad mood, this time it was worse. It was like a wrath.   
  
"Jonathan!" she screamed, slamming the door of her car. "I was fired, for the third time this month. If you are going to be the man of this house, cause your father sure isn't, then you better get a job. You're coming with me, and you're going to apply anywhere where they'll accept trailer trash like yourself."  
  
I had lived with this woman for only three years and she was already treating me like she had known me for my entire life. She was the only reason we lived in the trailer park. Clark could do so much better than her.   
  
So, I got in to the car with Kathy, no questions asked, and no hesitation. I wouldn't dare question anything that Kathy said or did. I knew better than that. Isadora used to be a normal child, although she's older than me, but when Clark married Kathy, she started beating her and making her feel like she wasn't really pushing herself to be what she wanted to be (which was a doctor, but Kathy said that she was beautiful and she could be a model), and so a little less than a year ago, Isadora became anorexic, and she was almost down to eighty pounds now. She was 18 years old. She hadn't graduated from high school, she dropped out when Kathy sent her to Hollywood to become an actress, but when she came back, empty handed, Kathy almost killed her. Literally.   
  
We drove all around town for about an hour and seventeen applications later before she stopped in front of what looked like a coffee shop.   
  
She went in, got an application and brought it out to the car for me to fill out.   
  
"Just do this last one," she said, trying to sound somewhat innocent, "for me." She smiled and I could smell her nasty breath. I could tell she hadn't brushed in days. Maybe weeks. I cringed at the smell of the disgusting air that was flowing in and out of her black, nicotine-coated lungs.   
  
Jennifer wasn't at the park when I was finished. Nor was she at home when I tried to call her from a pay phone. Maybe she was at the diner. So, I walked from the pay phone where I had called her. I opened the door. I walked in from the cool autumn air and into the cold, air-conditioned diner. I could barely hear a popular rock song muffled from the over-head speakers. The fact that everyone in the diner was talking didn't help either.   
  
I searched the diner for Jennifer's face, but I didn't find hers. I found Penelope and Milo DeFranko. They were engaged in a deep conversation, but as I passed their booth, the conversation didn't seem too deep.  
  
"Penelope, your hair, it would look so good if you would highlight it a much lighter blonde than it is."  
  
"Really? Do you think so?"  
  
"Oh, I know so."  
  
It was rather sickening, if you asked me. I sat down in the booth behind them, waiting to see if anyone I knew would walk in. Anyone I could talk to.   
  
I waited for ten minutes before Nicholas came in. He noticed me and came to the booth and sat down.  
  
"Hey dude, what's up?" he said, as we did our ritualistic handshake.  
  
"Not much, just walked in a few minutes ago. I was looking for someone, but their not here."  
  
"Tubular dude, I was just walking around outside, and I saw your face in the window and I was all "look, there's Jon, just sitting there," so I came in to see what was up, dude."  
  
I was used to the way that Nicholas talked by now. He had moved here over the summer from California and we met at the skating park downtown.   
  
I looked around at the vintage 50's pictures that were placed on the diner's walls as Nicholas kept talking. Then I guess I kinda zoned out… 


	2. Ch.2

Chapter Two  
  
Penelope  
After Milo and I left the diner for a small snack we went to the movie theatre, to see a movie, of course. With Milo, I could be myself. I could be who I was. I could be who I wanted to be with Jennifer, but she was too needy and she wanted me to do everything she wanted to do. I just had to get out of that relationship. It had been only a day or so, and I was totally miserable. I missed her, but I was angry with her. She had gone behind my back and talked to Milo. It was wrong. Just wrong.  
  
Milo bought our tickets to see the movie, which was rated R. I was excited and nervous at the same time, although I was a sophomore, and he was a senior, it was still kind of exhilarating, if you think about it.   
  
  
After Milo dropped me off at my house, and I had walked through the door of our house, as you could call it, Poppin met me in the living room.  
  
"I don't like that Milo guy," he first said to me, walking in the room.  
  
"It seems as if I'm the only one who does," I responded.  
  
"I don't think you should see him anymore."  
  
"It doesn't matter what you think, Poppin. It's what I think, and I think Milo is a good guy. No one understands him like I do. He's a sweet guy. If you can't see that, then you're seriously blind."  
  
I stormed up the stairs and into my bedroom, slamming the door behind me. I flung myself on my bed and buried my head in my pillows. What was I supposed to say? Poppin and I were close, but he didn't know Milo like I did. Milo was a good guy, underneath it all. I guess he does make a few wrong decision at times, but no one's perfect. We all make mistakes, right?   
  
It was around midnight when I fell asleep that night, and when I awoke the next morning, Elsa had already picked out my outfit for school.   
  
I dressed quickly and picked up my book bag from beside my desk and I rushed down the stairs.  
  
When I entered the kitchen, Poppin was sitting at the counter. I guessed that he was still angry with me, since the look on his face when I walked in wasn't a happy one.   
  
I fixed a small glass of orange juice for myself and drank it in one gulp. I wiped my mouth with a napkin and looked at the clock. 6:45. The bus would be here soon. I walked outside, with Poppin following close behind, and down to the bus stop, at the corner of our street.   
  
As the time for the bus's arrival drew closer, and closer, I heard music blaring from behind me. I turned around to see that Milo had come to pick me up for school. A smile lit up my face as he stopped at the stop sign. I could hear Poppin's exasperated sigh as Milo rolled down the passenger window.   
  
"Hey Pen. Ready to go?" he said, with a slight smile on his face.  
  
"Yeah, sure." I hopped in the car. After Milo rolled the window back up, I looked at Poppin. He wasn't looking at me; instead, he was looking down the opposite street, waiting for the bus. I felt really bad, leaving him there, by himself. I knew he could take care of himself, but it was just one of those twin things, you know?   
  
I sighed as Milo sped off towards the school campus, skipping stop signs on his way out of my neighborhood.  
  
  
Jennifer  
English was always horrible on Monday's. Mr. Mandley was always preaching about the pros and cons of whatever book we were reading that week. I almost always fell asleep, because Penelope wasn't in that class with me, but I decided that since I wasn't Penelope's friend anymore, that I would have to make new friends, besides Jonathan, whom might or might not still be my friend, after I left me at the park for a few hours.  
  
I looked around the room, choosing a victim to be my new best friend. Glancing at all the acne covered faces that the florescent lighting of room 112 had the pleasure of glowing upon, I found my target: Karen Hallows. She was Crescent Hill's own published author. She had written one book, and after that, she thought she was the greatest writer in the world. That was two years ago. Now she's normal again. Now she wants to be a director.   
  
After class, I caught up with her in the hallway.  
  
"Hey, Karen!" I said, rushing up behind her. She stopped in the hallway and looked back at me.  
  
"Hi… Jennifer," she said kind of solemnly.   
  
"I was wondering if, possibly, that we could do something this weekend? Or whatever…" I said, my voice trailing off behind me, hoping to get a positive answer.   
  
"Um… yeah… sure… I'm not free this weekend, but uh, this afternoon I am. Maybe you could come by my house. Only guessing, but do you still know where it is?"   
  
Karen and I used to be good friends in fourth grade, and then she decided she was smarter than I was and began to pursue a writing career.   
  
"Yeah. 66 Maple, right? That's what I thought. I'll get Lars to drop me off, alright? I'll see you then," I tried not to sound too enthusiastic. I turned around and walked to my locker and then to History, where I would confront Jonathan.  
  
  
Jonathan wasn't in class, which kind of bothered me. Maybe he hadn't stood me up on purpose. I felt kind of guilty since I had been mentally mean to him. Cursing his name and all that junk. I felt as if he needed an apology. I didn't know where he lived to go to his house and apologize. I didn't know any of his friends. And when I called from my, actually my mother's, cell phone, no one answered at his house. Where could Jonathan be? Was he hurt? I couldn't help but worry about him. Worrying was just a part of my nature.  
  
When I got home that afternoon, I had forgotten all about Jonathan. Then I remembered that I was supposed to go see Karen. I rushed into the kitchen where Lars was looking through the refrigerator.   
  
"Lars, you have to take me to Karen Hallows' house right now."   
  
"What?"  
  
"Now! Don't ask questions, just do it."  
  
"Um, ok."  
  
Lars and I went to the car and he drove me to Karen's house. 


End file.
